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Monday, 30 March 2015

Scenic Rollercoaster

By Pico Triano
Photos: Pico Triano

The
California coastline running from Ragged Point to Carmel-By-The-Sea
is exceptionally beautiful. I would have gotten even more pictures
but the there was fog to deal with in the morning and later in the
day I was dog tired.

If you
read last months Finding My Rhythm, you would know I left Ragged
Point behind schedule. It didn't turn out to be a big issue. Not that
I made good time mind you. It seems I pedalled maybe a third of my
riding time that day. The other two thirds were either walking the
bike up steep hills (I didn't have a cheater gear for hill climbing
on my 12 speed) or screaming down the other side.

Throughout
the day I was grateful to be travelling north. The road wasn't too
bad but I could picture myself being punted off the edge by one of
the frequent RV's travelling the route. RV's do scare me on tour.
They're nice enough people but some of them worked their entire life
hard so they can enjoy their retirement. While working to save money
they drove a sub-compact and now with those driving skills they're
driving something the size of a bus. In places, that looked like one
rough painful rocky tumble down to the Pacific.

There
was a place where it looked like a small creek emptied into the
Pacific Ocean. I wrote into a novel manuscript that a young couple
followed it upstream on their bikes to a pool and picturesque
wilderness campsite. Total fiction. If the book is published, there
is no need to go looking for that spot because you won't find it.

My
campsite at the end of the day was far less hospitable. If I recall
correctly it was off a gravel turn out. I am bless with the ability
to sleep on just about any surface when I'm tired. In the morning I
may have a few kinks to work out but otherwise I'm okay. Granted I'm
ageing and it doesn't work out quite that conveniently any more.

From
there I left the scenic coastline and headed into the more heavily
populated territory around San Francisco.